4 Ways to Finding Purpose in Life

Finding purpose in life gives you direction and guidance. It channels inner forces and energy to overcome outer circumstances and conditions. It’s at the crux of leading your life, instead of having life lead you.

Are you doing what you love? Are you living on purpose?

Here are 4 ways to finding purpose in life:

.1. Introspection..

Spend some time with yourself. Examine your life and get in touch with those thoughts and feelings that are important to you. Reflect on past experiences and ask yourself:

* When do I feel that my life is most meaningful?
* What do I enjoy doing the most?
* What activities bring me the most passion and energy?
* What are my true priorities?
* What is the deepest purpose I would like to express in my life?

Write down the answers to these questions. Just reading this is not going to cut it.

Find a quiet space and take 15-20 minutes to really answer these questions. Spend some time and really think about what brings you joy and happiness in your life. Reflect back on your life and write down the answers that come to you.

.2. Environment..

You see, you occur to people a certain way. The way you see yourself may be different than the way others see you. The way you occur to others is a reflection of your inner self.

The people in your life are reflective of your way of being. They see things that you don’t. The clues to finding purpose in life can be found in the people that are closest to you.

Consider 5 people in your life that are close to you: your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend or other important friends or family members in your life. Sit down with them and ask them these questions:

* What do you think comes most naturally to me?
* What do you think are my special talents and gifts?
* What do you think I am really good at?
* What do you think is really important to me?
* When do you find that I’m the happiest and what am I doing?

Again, just reading this is not going to cut it. Write out the answers and review them. Compare the answers you received from the introspection method to the environment method, then look for patterns.

* What are the similarities?
* What patterns do you see?
* What qualities, character traits and values seem to be repeated over and over again?

This is a clue. Your patterns are an indication of what is unique and special about you.

.3. Natural Ability, Not Skill..

When looking for answers, consider natural ability and not skills. Skills are those actions that you’ve perfected over time; they’re external and not necessarily unique to you. Skills are important to executing a well crafted life purpose but are secondary to natural ability.

Look for natural ability; this comes from the inside. Everyone’s got it - you’ve got it. Your natural ability is an act of creative contribution that ignites you. It’s natural to you because it’s part of who you really are. Look for natural ability when examining your life with the questions above.

.4. You’re Inspired..

When you’re inspired, your “in spirit,” and spirit is who you really are. Inspiration is the act of expressing that which is within you.

Again, your environment is a reflection of who you are. Consider the people, mentors, heroes and superstars in your life that are an inspiration. The reason they are inspiring to you is because you see some of yourself in these other people.

When I watched Rocky II recently it really touched me. It really stirred some strong emotions in me; emotions of love, passion and purpose. I love the Rocky movies because they demonstrate the power of the human spirit and the human heart. And that’s what I’m all about. My purpose is to teach and inspire others to love and live life by following their hearts desires.

What is your purpose? Consider these questions:

* Who are some of your heroes and what is inspiring about them?
* Who are the teachers, coaches or mentors that inspire you the most?
* Which movie stars, musicians or performers are inspiring to you?

Again, it’s all about recognizing the patterns. Look for those areas in your life where you see a common thread. These are the clues to realizing and finding purpose in life.

Author's Bio
You know how some people are unhappy, wasting time and energy married to their job? What I do is provide coaching and tools to help people take the right steps towards a new career or business.


by Stephen Martile
Article from selfgrowth.com

Would You Like to Stop Worrying about What Others Think?

Do you often walk away from people thinking, "Did I say the right thing?"; "Did I offend someone?"; "Should I have said or asked...?"?

Do you frequently hear that "little voice" in your head saying, "What will they think?"?



Do you often feel you need to be a certain way, and you can't just be yourself?

Most people are concerned about what others think about them, and many say and do things just to get the approval of others. These thoughts and behaviors seem to be so much a part of who we are and are so common in others that we assume that they are just part of being human.

However, you can eradicate these thoughts and behaviors forever.

How? By eliminating the beliefs that cause them. Although this problem can be caused by different beliefs in different people, there is one specific belief that anyone with this problem almost certainly has: "What makes me good enough is having people think well of me."

Today I'm going to tell you how this belief is formed, why so many people have it (maybe even you), and how getting rid of this belief will transform your life.

Early in life, many of us form negative beliefs about ourselves, like "I'm not good enough." (Almost every one of the 13,000 clients we've had from 34 countries around the world has had this belief.) Because most parents expect children to do things that are unrealistic for their age (such as be neat and quiet and come when called at the age of three or four), and because most parents get frustrated, annoyed, or angry when their children don't do what they're told, most children conclude "there must be something wrong with me" if Mom and Dad are upset with me so often, or "I'm not good enough."

Because our beliefs about ourselves are usually formed during the first six years of life, most of us already have this belief when we leave our homes and go out into the world of teachers, other kids, school, etc. Obviously a belief like this would make us think as we start school, "How will I get people to like me, and how will I make it in the world if I'm not good enough?"

And those thoughts, in turn, would lead to us feeling "not okay" about ourselves and anxious to some extent.

And then one day a solution appears. We do something that our parents (or perhaps a teacher or coach) like, and they give us a very positive response. How does that make us feel? Happy and very good about ourselves.

The first few times that happens, we feel good but don't make anything of it. And then after this progression of events occurs a few times we conclude: If I didn't feel good about myself, and then after getting praise and/or positive attention I do feel good about myself, what that means is "what makes me good enough or important is having people think well of me."

This is a very special type of belief. It is a belief that tells us what needs to happen in order to experience being okay. And when it doesn't happen, we don't feel very good about ourselves.

Well, if we don't experience being good enough the way we are and we need something outside ourselves to become good enough, how often would we want that outside something to occur? All the time! Any time anyone doesn't like us, rejects us, or thinks poorly of us, we have lost our "survival strategy," our method for making us feel good about ourselves. At that point the underlying belief "I'm not good enough" is uncovered and stares us in the face, leaving us feeling not good enough and producing some level of anxiety.

As a result, the need to have others think well of us is experienced like a drug addiction by many people. When they achieve it, they feel good for the moment, but it's only a matter of time before they need another "fix." At that point they become obsessed about getting it.

There are other "survival strategy" beliefs, such as "What makes me good enough is doing things perfectly"; "What makes me good enough is being successful/wealthy" (Can you see now why some people are obsessed with this?); and "What makes me good enough is taking care of others." And it's possible to have more than one. But based on our experience in our private practice, "having people think well of me" is the most common.

It now should be clear why so many people are obsessed about what others think about them: Most people have the belief "I'm not good enough" (or some variation of it), and "having people think well of me" is the remedy most of us have found to cover up the anxiety that stems from having that belief.

If the obsession about having people think well of us is a direct result of having several beliefs, the way to get rid of the obsession is to get rid of these beliefs.

- By Morty Lefkoe

About the Author:
Morty Lefkoe is president and founder of The Lefkoe Institute. He is the creator of a series of psychological processes (The Lefkoe Method) that result in profound personal and organizational change, quickly and permanently. He created a revolutionary way to deliver his method online that you can sample free by going here.

Your Authentic Self

You are meant to live an authentic life.

A life that honors the depth of who you are.
A life that nourishes your heart and expands your mind.
A life that is unencumbered with what others think.
A life that empowers you to be who you really are.

A life like this may seem out of reach with the pressure we feel from others and life in general.

Maybe you want to take steps toward being "you" again, but you have forgotten who you really are.


The question becomes, "How can I live authentically if I don't even know who my authentic self is anymore?"

Your authentic self is there.

It has just been altered or buried with what others want you to be, what society is telling you to have, trying to make unhealthy relationships work, and the focus on just surviving.

I want you to discover your authentic self once again.

It has been there this whole time.

You have been reminded of it with those common threads that keep popping up. Those thoughts you just can't shake no matter how hard you try.

What keeps "nagging" at the back of your mind—as if it were "meant to be" a part of your life?

What do you "feel" in your heart or your gut that you should be doing?

Generally, there are certain thoughts or ideas that keep recurring throughout our life that refuse to be totally silenced despite our best efforts to be "practical" or "realistic."

Those common threads continue to happen because something is missing in our life. Something that is at the very core of who you are.

And that something needs to happen in your life.
That something is your authentic self.

I find Laura Grace's principles to be invaluable and successful components in experiencing an authentic life:

1.Taking care of yourself- Nurturing your body, mind and spirit must be a priority in your life. Accept that you can only give to others to the extent you are giving to yourself. Putting yourself first is not "selfish," but "Self-full."

2. Dare to be yourself- Strip away the mask and let yourself just "be." Take time to have fun and allow yourself to find humor in being human. Know that your purpose for being born wasn't to live life according to what society deems correct. Your purpose is to discover your true self and live from that awareness. If you resonate to the color violet, then be violet, not brown. I once read a quote from Rabindranath Tagore who wisely asked, "That which oppresses me, is it my soul trying to come out in the open, or the soul of the world knocking at my heart for its entrance?"

3. Give only from the heart- Doing anything out of obligation dishonors both you and the other person, and will only leave you feeling resentful. Do an "inner check" before you say "yes" to anyone. If resistance surfaces, do another inner check. If heaviness or resistance occurs again, trust what you feel and do not commit to something that is not in alignment with your heart.

4. Look inward for your fulfillment, not outward- Within you resides a wellspring of creativity and love. Turn within to become aware of what is driving your needs. Is it because you are feeling unloved, scared or lonely? Practice giving what you want to receive. Extending love, from the heart, is the fastest way to fill any emptiness you may feel.

5. Appreciate yourself- Take time to appreciate how far you have come on your journey. Notice what you have worked through and your commitment to growth and healing. Doing so builds both an inner and outer abundance over time. It will help you to see the glass, or your life, half full rather than half empty.

6. Let go of guilt! No one is harder on us than we are on ourselves. And many of us feel guilty for taking care of ourselves, setting healthy boundaries and saying, "No." Having been programmed to feel responsible for others, we often find it hard to recognize our own needs. Practice dropping any guilt you feel for honoring yourself. Guilt is limiting and crippling and does not serve you. Living an authentic life means being free from what others think. It requires giving yourself permission to live life according to what your heart and soul desires.

7. Become aware of your intentions- If your intention is to be real and congruent, then everything that is not authentically you will reveal itself so you can choose to release it. Spirit will illuminate anything in need of releasing when you set your intention to grow. Yet if your intention is split: pleasing others, wanting one of the Three P's: Power/Prestige/Prosperity, etc., then you will experience the effects of your split-mind thinking and your life will never, ever, be completely fulfilling. Practice purifying your intention.

8. Ask, listen and follow- We need only ask and we will find that our relationships, finances, work, and relationship with our self begin to transform. How many times per day do you ask for help from Spirit? And, how often do you listen to it? And then, what about following what you hear? The amount of inner peace and happiness you experience in your life is directly proportionate to the amount of energy you expend on asking, listening and following the Voice within.

Be willing, right now, to ask for guidance in developing an authentic relationship with yourself. Ask for guidance in releasing beliefs, thoughts and behaviors that do not honor your true essence.

Start with, "Who am I, really? For so long I've based my perception of myself on what others think that I've forgotten who I am. So, who am I, truly?" and, "What steps can I take to live an authentic life?" Finally, be willing to hear the gentle yet firm Voice, and trust what it says.

Such is the life of the authentic soul....

From: Allyson Spellman (Success Coach)

Segment Intending - How To Train Your Mind By Using Intention Segments

by Stephanie Yeh

Our friend, singer and songwriter Chuck Pyle, likes to say, "The mind is like a bad neighborhood--you should never go there by yourself." If your mind hasn't been trained to help you, via methods like meditation, shamanism or NLP, it might really be a bad neighborhood. Our minds constantly absorb thoughts, behaviors, and responses from our environment. These various thought patterns and responses may or may not be in alignment with our goals. Unless we actively train our minds to be responsive to our needs, we may be in for a wild chariot ride (and 6 out of control horses)!

From a shamanic point of view, we say that each person is a spirit with a mind and body. In other words, we are spirit and mind and body are tools that we, spirit, can use. However, just because we have mind as a tool doesn't mean that mind, in its current form, is a good tool for us. The untrained mind is a lot like an untrained animal--be prepared for the unexpected!

Have you ever sworn to yourself (say on New Year's Day?) that you're never going to fall for the wrong kind of mate again? Or you're going to lose 10 pounds this year? Or you're going to... the list is endless. Then what happens? We forget what we've promised ourselves, or we find other priorities that are more important. That forgetfulness is a sign that mind isn't trained to help us with our aims. Mind is doing its own thing.

What Can We Do to Train Our Mind?

Segment Intending, one of our favorite exercises from Abraham-Hicks, is a simple way to train your mind to help you while also accomplishing a lot each day.

How to go about Segment Intending

1. Pick the length of time for your segment. It can be any length of time, but no more than an hour. Thirty minutes or an hour works well. Decide exactly what time the segment will start and end.

2. Decide on your aim for that segment. It could be a list of tasks, a state of being, or both. For instance, you might decide that you will strive to remain light hearted while you return phone calls for 30 minutes.

3. When the segment start time arrives, start your segment with no second thoughts. Put your attention solely on the tasks for that segment and nothing else.

4. If you get interrupted during your segment, you need to decide whether the interruption is important enough for you to stop your segment (for instance, if your boss stops by your office for a chat). If the interruption is not important enough, keep going on your segment. If the interruption is important, make a conscious decision to stop your current segment and start a new one (one centered around the interruption).

Practice doing these segments throughout the day. Each segment is a training period for your mind, and will teach your mind to assist you in whatever you are doing. Segment intending works even better with a buddy, who can help you stay on track and stay focused. Whether you segment intend by yourself or with a friend, you'll find your mind becoming much more responsive to your needs as a spirit. Enjoy!

Stress Management

A lecturer was giving a lecture to his student on stress management. He raised a glass of water and asked the audience, “How heavy do you think this glass of water is?”

The students’ answers ranged from 20g to 500gm.

It does not matter on the absolute weight. It depends on how long you hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it is OK. If I hold it for an hour, I will have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you will have to call an ambulance.

It is the exact same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, we will not be able to carry on, the burden becoming increasingly heavier.

What you have to do is to put the glass down, rest for a while before holding it up again. We have to put down the burden periodically, so that we can be refreshed and are ! Able to carry on.

So before you return home from work tonight, put the burden of work down. Don’t carry it back home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you are having now on your shoulders, let it down for a moment if you can. Pick it up again later when you have rested.